Walt Disney's Donald Duck: The Black Pearls of Tabu Yama

The Complete Carl Barks Disney Library #19

by Carl Barks

Donald, Uncle Scrooge, and the nephews search for rare black pearls; do battle with an invasive bug species in the Amazon; and much more!

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Humor, Adventure, Comic Book, Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics

194 pages, Hardcover

First published September 5, 2018

About the author

Carl Barks was an American cartoonist, author, and painter. He is best known for his work in Disney comic books, as the writer and artist of the first Donald Duck stories and as the creator of Scrooge McDuck. He worked anonymously until late in his career; fans dubbed him "The Duck Man" and "The Good Duck Artist". In 1987, Barks was one of the three inaugural inductees of the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame.
Barks worked for the Disney Studio and Western Publishing where he created Duckburg and many of its inhabitants, such as Scrooge McDuck (1947), Gladstone Gander (1948), the Beagle Boys (1951), The Junior Woodchucks (1951), Gyro Gearloose (1952), Cornelius Coot (1952), Flintheart Glomgold (1956), John D. Rockerduck (1961) and Magica De Spell (1961).
He has been named by animation historian Leonard Maltin as "the most popular and widely read artist-writer in the world". Will Eisner called him "the Hans Christian Andersen of comic books." Beginning especially in the 1980s, Barks' artistic contributions would be a primary source for animated adaptations such as DuckTales and its 2017 remake.

Reviews

[Jason Béliveau · Rating 4 out of 5]

Je mets 4 étoiles au lieu de 5 uniquement parce que je lis un peu partout que c’est pas un des meilleurs volumes de la série, mais Dieu que Barks a un trait de crayon de dingue. Du gros bonbon. Ça fait que je vais devoir collectionner les 30 tomes de ça en plus des 26 de The Complete Peanuts? 😵‍💫

[Gijs Grob · Rating 3 out of 5]

This volume contains Donald Duck comics from 1957-1958. In this period Barks's inspiration became to wane a bit, and many stories recycle old ideas, or are downright remakes of earlier stories. Nevertheless, the result is still quite entertaining and of a high quality. 'Forbidden Valley' is even a better story than its original ('Darkest Africa' in 'Donald Duck: The Old Castle's Secret), adding a lost world full of dinosaurs. This volume introduces the pig villain that would be Donald's adversary during the rest of his 1950s and 1960s comic career, and who appears here in two stories. Barks's drawings are top notch, and many panels are real gems (for example the elevator gags on p. 49 or Donald's emotions on p. 76), but during this volume the Ducks become strangely elongated, which diminishes their appeal.

[Ondra Král · Rating 3 out of 5]

Opět hlavně sbírka krátkých komedií, cca půlka vyšla různě česky. Spíš průměrný díl, 3,5*

[tony dillard jr · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maybe it's just me getting older and my tastes have changed. Maybe now owning nearly 12,000 comics and graphic novels that I realize that I don't have to own every comic book ever made. Or maybe it's just because I really love Scrooge McDuck and his nephew Donald. All I know is when it comes to a book that just warms my soul, I'd much rather read the complete works of the legendary Carl Barks than just about anything new that comes out on comic book shop shelves.

In this delightful volume, readers start off on a Pacific island adventure set during Christmas time with Scrooge Donald and Huey Dewey and Louie looking for the famed black pearls of Tabu Yama. The heartwarming ending is extremely predictable and yet this has immediately become one of my all-time favorite holiday reads to star the Ducks of Disney.

Lucky duck cousin Gladstone appears in at least 3 stories in this book. First, he'll race Donald around the world in a rocket ship for a pair of dueling scientists. For the last 2 stories, Uncle Scrooge is added to the mix as both Gladstone and Donald attempt to convince the wealthy businessduck to buy their prospective investment properties. Then the trio compete against each other in a series of competitive burro events for the rights to a lucrative uranium mine For a character absolutely despised by Barks, he sure uses Gladstone Gander an awful lot.

Readers are also introduced to a new rival of Donald Duck in the form of the literal swine, P.L. McBrine. First, McBrine unleashes a pickle shortage in Duckburg by releasing a parasite that feasts on cucumbers. Donald and his nephews head overseas to bring back a wasp that is known to feast on those invasive bugs. However, McBrine is on their trail in hopes of keeping the Ducks from succeeding so he can make a killing by selling pickled rutabagas!

McBrine returns, now using the name McSwine as a customer scheming to take milkman Donald's job by making false complaints to the manager of the Duckburg dairy. Yet in an unexpected twist, Donald kinda snaps and exacts revenge on McBrine by issuing him his just desserts. As satisfying as it is to see Donald get the best of one of his foes with relish, it's no wonder that Disney and Dell passed on this story and was shelved for nearly 2 decades before being published in the Netherlands circa 1974.

Almost 2 dozen tales of various lengths abound in this nearly 200 page collection, along with covers and commentary from noted Disney comic historians on each adventure.

Such a delight. I don't care if these reproductions show biases and stereotypes. Well, I care, socially. It just doesn't bother me to see how far we've come from those days of yore. It's how we learn from the mistakes of history and with that, I can't wait to get my hands on more books in this oddly published series of Barks' complete Disney Duck works.

[K · Rating 4 out of 5]

A slow start with some strong high points in the middle. The end notes indicate that quite a few of these stories were reworkings of Barks's earlier ideas. One is a retelling of one of my least favorite comics from an earlier volume: with that in perspective, "Forbidden Valley" was a definite improvement, although still not his best work. How do you include a valley full of dinosaurs without making them a more interesting part of the story? He could've just as easily used a stampede of elephants to create the same outcome. (So why dinosaurs at all?? It's a waste.)

My favorites were the comics where Donald's personality really had a chance to shine. He's always been my favorite of the core Disney characters, and there were many opportunities in this volume for his hard work, determination, and generous spirit to take the spotlight. "The Persistent Postman" and "Donald the Milkman" followed similar themes, with equally pleasant results. I like when Barks includes a bunch of quirky side characters without reducing them to mean-spirited jokes. Donald likes his jobs, even when they're low-paying, thankless, or sending him down some inevitable road to disaster. It's fun to see him befriending "doggies" during his early morning milk deliveries, paying for a sick child's portions, and going out of his way to ensure the people he meets along the way are treated well (as long as they do the same to him).

The best of the bunch, though, would have to be "The Half-Baked Baker." As much as I enjoy Donald and Scrooge comics, they rarely make me laugh out loud. The jokes and dialogue in this comic hit exactly the right notes, and it was a delightful read. The accidental popcorn kernels in the cookies? An unexpected and fantastic touch.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice art, but a bunch of lackluster stories. This isn’t one of the better volumes in the Barks library,

[Norman Cook · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume presents a wide range of stories, from high adventure to silly gag driven fables. Donald ranges from competent outdoorsman to inept salesman, depending on what Barks needed for the story. The stories are at their best when Donald is trying to match wits with either Uncle Scrooge or Gladstone Gander (or occasionally, both). He is at his worst when he is portrayed as a lazy slacker. Huey, Dewey, and Louie provide much needed balance to Donald's life, although sometimes even they can be brats. Daisy Duck is not portrayed in a good light, let's just leave it at that. And there are a few inevitably dated ethnic portrayals.
By the time most of these stories were created, Barks had been working on Duck stories for close to twenty years, so there is some noticeable weariness, particularly in that several of these stories are reworkings of previous tales. Notwithstanding, in a couple of cases the revised stories are arguably better than the originals. No matter what, these stories are better than most of the new stuff being published today.

[Jeff Lewonczyk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Despite being a lifelong Barks fan, I hadn't read all of the stories in this volume, so novelty was a big factor in my enjoyment. I also just loved the texture of this collection - from a hidden valley of dinosaurs to an around-the-world rocket race to a volcanic South-Seas Christmas, there's a lot to dazzle the eyes and imagination. Yes, there are the typically wince-inducing portrayals of native tribes and taken-for-granted imperial attitudes of the era, which are endemic to many Barks stories, but the accompanying critical materials addresses these in a thoughtful way. In the end, nothing comforts me quite like these books.

[Mark Schlatter · Rating 4 out of 5]

On the one hand, it's old Carl Barks comics, so it's full of problematic portrayals of native tribes. On the other hand, you have a plot motivated by someone trying to off load 23 million quarts of pickled rutabagas.

There's a lot in here about Donald and his many jobs, and practically every story pays off well. There are even some Gladstone Gander tales that don't drive me crazy (and I hate that character). Finally, there's a paucity of short comics, so you get a good build up almost every time.

[Nicholas Driscoll · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having been a longtime Carl Barks fan, it's been great revisiting a lot of my childhood favorites, and also reading a lot of new (to me) stories as well. In this volume, there were quite a few stories I had never read before--including the titular Tabu Yama tale. I still find I often enjoy the ones I have read before more due to my nostalgia, but it's really interesting to see the other stories as well. Makes me yearn to be a little kid again with a bowl of chips and my brother at my side, reading the stories out loud together.

[Aaron Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm working my way through some of the Carl Barks canon to try to improve my own abilities as a cartoonist. Barks was a true master of the cartooning craft; an excellent artist and storyteller. Some of my favorite stories in this one involve Donald-as-working stiff--baker, milkman, and mailman. These stories speak of authenticity in large part because Barks himself worked a bunch of odd jobs before falling into cartooning. Fantagraphics has done a great job with this series.

[Jameson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was hoping for more from this one. Once again it’s mostly 10 pagers—many of which are minor or even forgettable—and there’s just one longer adventure story here. There aren’t even any 1 pagers to break up the monotony.

Overall these stories are more entertaining than the last volume, but I was hoping for a grand slam and I got a base hit.

I know there are still some great stories left in the other volumes but I can’t understand the reason for this slump.

[Angel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick impressions: The comics are a light and easy read. The comics are published in color. Some of the stories are better than others, but they overall make a good package.

(Detailed review available on my blog soon.)

[Lindsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed every story in this volume, with only one or two exceptions that were just "meh" compared to the others. I love Carl Barks adventures!

[Youmna · Rating 5 out of 5]

قرأتها مترجمة وكنت احب اقتنائها ورقي اكتر الا انها مش متاحة غير اونلاين